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Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Making all the Stops

I was thinking of a Seinfeld episode the other day, the one
where Kramer tells the story of how he was on a hijacked bus and had to fight
the hijacker off, ending up driving the bus himself.

(It’s interesting, by the way, how this violates the old bit
of writerly advice to show, not tell.And it’s not the only time Seinfeld
does this.What to me was their most
glorious episode is the one where George tells how he saved the beached whale
by removing a golf ball from its blowhole.We don’t see this at all, except for George in rolled-up pants wading
out from shore.There’s a sort of
discretion in that, a cutting away from the action, another way to write not
encompassed by the old writing rules.)

But I digress.In the
episode, Kramer explains how he has to grab the steering wheel because the
driver has passed out, and meanwhile he’s having to fight off the hijacker, or
mugger, while steering and also preserving a severed toe that he’s trying to
get to the hospital.

Eventually, he explains, he was able to kick the mugger off
the bus at one of the stops, to which Jerry replies, “You kept making all the
stops?”Well, says Kramer, people kept
ringing the bell.

I was thinking, well, that’s life, or maybe heroism: you’re
in a life-and-death struggle, you’ve got a 20-ton vehicle to control, you’re
worrying about a severed toe, and yet you keep making all the stops.Life goes on, there are things to do, so
despite your headaches or heartaches or whatever else crosses your path, there
are stops to make, people who keep ringing the bell and expecting you to do
your job.

It reminds me of Robert Frost’s famous poem about the woods
so lovely, dark, and deep, so tempting, but not tempting enough to divert the
rider from keeping his promises.To be
an honourable man, says Confucius, keep your word, do your duty.

Man’s lot?Woman’s
too, of course.We have to keep making
all the stops.It’s hard sometimes,
though.

P.S. February 12:

It occurs to me, waking up this morning, that sometimes in
times of stress, making all the stops is actually a lifeline.